70% of employers are snooping candidates’ social media profiles

Scrolling through your photos from this past weekend and laughing at the debauchery of your Hangover-esque charades? Ranting about your current job or co-workers because you think you’re just among “friends?” Think again. According to a new CareerBuilder survey, 70 percent of employers use social media to screen candidates before hiring, which is up significantly from 60 percent in 2016. So pause before you post – if you think it could be questionable or inappropriate, you should go with your gut.

So, what to flaunt vs. flop?Social recruiting is now a “thing” when it comes to hiring candidates – 3 in 10 employers have someone dedicated to solely getting the scoop on your online persona.

Employers are searching for a few key items when researching candidates via social networking sites as good signs to hire:

Information that supports their qualifications for the job (61 percent)

If the candidate has a professional online persona at all (50 percent)

What other people are posting about the candidates (37 percent)

For any reason at all not to hire a candidate (24 percent)

And they aren’t stopping there either – 69 percent are using online search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing to research candidates as well, compared to 59 percent last year.